About Me

I thought my fairytale had come true when I married the man of my dreams - and in many ways, it has. But after 16 cycles of hope and disappointment followed by a trip to see a consultant and three failed ICSI attempts, we have a diagnosis of both severe oligozoospermia and diminished ovarian reserve to contend with, and wonder whether we'll ever get a chance to complete our family.

The clinics - dramatis personae

The old clinic - where we had ICSI #1 (October 2009) and ICSI #2 (November/December 2009)

Mr No Nonsense - the consultant, a man of few words who doesn't like to sugar the pill

Nurse Perfect - my favourite nurse

Nurse First Time - the nurse I saw on our first appointment, who is my second favourite

Nurse Not Quite - the other nurse

The XXXX clinic - where we had ICSI #3 in 2010

Mr Miracle Worker - the head consultant

Mr Greek God - the consultant we saw on our first appointment

Mr Wonderful - the consultant we saw most often during ICSI #3

Aussie Girl - the nurse we saw on our first appointment

Tuesday, 13 October 2009

Triggered

Well, I finally got back to sleep some time after 5 and managed another couple of hours' sleep. In the cold light of day, I was a bit less worried about the ovulating-before-egg-collection business, but it still niggled, so I just rang the clinic and spoke to Nurse Perfect.

I was concerned that when she gave me the Cetrotide on Friday she said it would prevent me ovulating and would last until Tuesday morning, so I asked what was now preventing me ovulating between this morning and tomorrow afternoon when they do the egg collection.

She said because the HCG shot was given before the Cetrotide ran out, the Cetrotide would have prevented me ovulating up to now, and the HCG will now take 36 hours to make the eggs mature before they pop out. There is nothing that should make me ovulate before 5:00 tomorrow afternoon, and she said, "You don't need to do any worrying. I'll do the worrying, and I can tell you I'm totally laid back about this."

She also said that my oestradiol level yesterday was exactly where she expected it to be and was "absolutely beautiful for someone with only four follicles" (does 4,500 sound about right? In my excitement at having a beautiful level I've forgotten the exact number already!).

So I feel better now - and so far I've had no reaction to the trigger shot, so let the day begin!

Oh, and today's crazy internet statistic? I just happened to idly put my egg collection date into an IVF due date calculator, and it told me I'm already 1 week and 6 days pregnant. Yay me!!!

Yay I finally caught up to the present time with your blogs! Congrats on triggering! I was really worried about ovulating before retrieval, too (I mean, I didn't want to go through surgery for nothing, you know?). The nurses told me the same thing about the 36 hour window, and all went well for me, so I am sure you will be fine, too. My estradiol was in the 2,000s but I have seen lots of people's blogs where they had estradiol levels in the 4,000s, so I am sure it's okay. I did the same thing with an IVF due date calculator. =)

Thanks for your support about my dad. It is very frustrating/upsetting, and I have a lot of difficulty handling it. I wish he would just say he disagreed and then let it alone, but he is so religious he feels like it's his obligation to save our souls. Ugh.

Praying that your retrieval goes smoothly tomorrow and that you get 4 perfect, mature eggs. Can't wait to hear all about it!

I think the US and UK scales might be a bit different - I know US and Canada use different scales, so I'm not sure if 4500 to 6057 is a fair comparison, but if Nurse Perfect says my level is beautiful, I'll take that. I'm a sucker for being told any part of me is beautiful, even if it is just my womb lining and my levels of some hormone I'd never even heard of three months ago!

Sonja, that's so frustrating - I really hope your dad eases up and remembers the love and forgiveness part of his religion soon.